Hey everyone, we are back as we promised with the next part of our trip to Oudtshoorn. As we told you guys before, we reached our rooms by evening. The next morning, after a nice healthy continental breakfast 🍳 we had to move forward and we definitely wanted to explore this amazing place. We had one night stay in here. From here we started our journey closer to Cape Town.
The distance between Oudtshoorn and Cape town was around 400 kilometres. It takes around 4 to 5 hours to reach here. As it was a slightly longer journey, we had planned to divide it into parts and roam around the city as we pass through.
We started a bit early in the morning, as we had booked ourselves a ticket to the very amazing and beautiful Cango Caves.
ABOUT CANGO CAVES
It took us around 30 minutes to reach here. Located at a distance of around 30 kilometres from the hotel or the main city of Oudtshoorn.
Lying around the foot hills of the Swartberg mountain 🏔 range, it is one of the most visited places in here and receives all kind of international and National tourists throughout the year. It is Located in the town of Oudtshoorn in the Precambrian Limestones within the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The entire cave with tunnels and chambers go around for around 4 km and the entire thing is not open for the public. It took millions of years for it to form as such a marvellous and great wonder of the world.
It is a 20-million-year-old caves system with beautiful hidden chambers, tunnels which are cut deep into a thick limestone rock layer. This is one of the biggest caves in South Africa and frequently referred to be one of the great Natural Wonders of the World. As they say, it is the series of dripstone caverns that open into the large and vast halls of stalagmite formations. The main chamber is called Cango 1 made up of dripstone formations while the other hall is named after the discoverer “Van Zyl ’s hall”. This hall is very fascinating and huge.
The major attraction being Cleopatra’s Needle which is about 150,000 years old and is 9 metres in height. Apart from this, there are various such attractions here.
We have never experienced and been to a place like this before. It is really nice to watch such wonderful creations of nature. It was overall a nice time in here.
They have facilities for restrooms and even have a nice small restaurant and a small souvenir shop inside.
DURATION:
The duration of the entire tour is around 60 minutes and 90 minutes. The rest depends on your interest.
There are two types of tour available here:
- Heritage Tour: 60 minutes
- Adventure Tour: 90 minutes
Heritage Tour details:
Timings:
It starts early in the morning around 9:00 AM and closes by 4:00 PM.
Every hour there is a group at goes inside into the caves. The entire tour lasts for an hour.
Prices:
For Adults: R85 per head
For children: R50 per head
If you wanna just walk around and explore the wonderful caves, this tour is the one for you. They take you inside through the staircases towards various chambers and halls and finally into the African Drum Chamber.
We had booked ourselves this tour. It was a nice walk. We got to explore a lot of stuff here. Many guided tours run in here in various batches of around 10-15 people. As you walk they help you known about the history and related experiences of the place.
Adventure Tour details:
The next is the adventure tour, which is a bit longer. Lasting for around 90 minutes. If you wanna explore and pass through tiny, tight passages and get the feel of the place, this is the one for you.
It is a different experience altogether.
Though the passages are quite narrow, you get to watch the rock formations very closely.
Timings:
Starts around 9:30 AM in the morning and the last tour is at around 3:30 PM.
Prices:
For adults: 150 Rands
For children: 65 Rands
It is always advisable to book your tickets in advance and plan your trip accordingly. The day we went, it was a bit tight with lots of batches already inside and outside waiting for their turn.
Tickets can be purchased either online or from the ticket counter outside the Cango Caves.
GUIDELINES BEFORE VISITING: 😱
- cameras are allowed inside, so don’t forget to capture nice pictures.
- Carry comfy clothes
- Wear shoes, as you might have to walk a bit for long
- Food items are not allowed 🚫
- Drinks are not allowed 🚫 inside
- Smoking 🚬 is restricted
- Advisable to reach 10-15 minutes prior to the group starting time
- Advisable to be with the respective groups inside the caves.
- Prebook the tickets if possible
TOUR GUIDE:
The tours run in various common languages like English, German, French etc.
CHECKLIST
- cameras 🎥
- Hats
- Comfy clothes and shoes
- Currency 💴
- Mosquito repellents
- Sunscreen
- Winter wear
After a beautiful walk and an amazing visit to the Cango Caves, we headed back to our bus and continued our journey. Next on our list was to visit an ostrich farm. As this place is so famous for ostriches around the world, it was on our must-visit list.
We will be talking about this in our next blog. Till then be safe and hope you guys loved reading this and it makes you want to explore the country.
Thank you,
With lots of love and strength
Hoomiesclub 😇